The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-02-18
THE BAHAMA ISLANDS.
4 REGION WHERE EARTHLY Elk"
ISTENCE is AN ENDLESS LULLABY.

A People Who May BE Likened to Laz-
zaroni UnconsciOusIy Possessing Heaven
Natures Hand Forever Wide Open
Luxuriance of Land and Sea-
The Bahamas are said to have been settlea
As early as 1922, and their population IS es-
timated to be about forty thousand souls
But they are a listless, indolentlo to whom
simple existence is the highest aspiration
For the most part the language is a curious
mixture Of the English, Spanish, and negro
tongues Sponge gathering, fishing, conch-
gathering, fruit picking, and wrecklng con
Etitute about all the labor done. The ISL
ands swarm with these wreckers, VINO are
nearly all gOod-Datured souls that regard
everythin cast upon the shores, every
vessel that grounds upon the dangerous
wrecks and Gays and every craft that can
be even lured upon the rocks, as their right
full gain, and receive all such ocean salvage
as if the blessing Of ha sven accompanied IL;
though for that matter our own government
permits quite bad a state or Things az
Key West and along tie Pine islands, off tbs
south coast of Florida. In the capital,
Nassau, there is some wealth, some rehne-
uent, and some regard for the htness OF
SAings but even here the enervatlng bIght
Of a society largely impregnated Win
pols:icaI and novel castaways has fallen
A REIGN OF PRODIGAL PROVISION.
For the traveller, the scientist, the in>a-
lii, the dreamer, the Outcast, or the OUTLAWS,
these islands are the ultima Thule. Life ia
sustained with scarcely an effort. 1t Is
region of prodigal provision, of thyme, ana
balm, OF life in endless lullaby. All this ls
the vision of toilers. It's realiz alton to any
people begets squalor. The population OF
the entire islands, whose capital and gov
nor-genaral are at Nassau, New Provi-
dence is nondescript, with English, Span
ish and negro cOmmingllng, and comprise
such people as might be hkened to Laz a.
roni unconsciously possessing heaven; and,
in coming to know and think of it all, it Is
one of those intellectual evidences that a.
most compels the re lection of any sort OF
future state in which activity and progress
sion are not possible
There is actually a sense Of rest in theG4
latitudes so intense as to be oppressive
Something in the very air compels sleep
that can be ikened only to a rest which
brings no renewal OF that citation and vigor
we in the colder climates know, and doubt
not that this carries on from physical to
mental effects, and dims intellectual aud
spiritual alertness sadly. BUT to know it
and experience it-and to leave it-are de
licious; though it all leaves with II an I'M
dertone of sadness. because one so much
compensation and 81 i q sweet cline to
the driven, 5adel men ami women of our
harder, more v-Tie peoples, and compel
these half-avake esi-t el> 70 to live and labor
where the awful Irction O. things would
straighten the ror.n, rut light behtha the
eyes, and polish TIE perception until ecog-
nizabie.
But all about you it is weird, charming,
sen5uous narcotic, cream al it Is to you
Lot ~ i,1IfH
not tire the tIoyd ana brain. I'he sea has
changed from It's hard, cold, steely blue, and
is how oDai.ne, almost milky white, but
translucent The hori< On that, abreast OF
the dreary, dangerous headlands OIL the
north, seemed shut down upon near and
quick and hard by as dreary sky, is now
far and far away, and the waters and sky
meet lovingly. The sky, too, that was SO
close and forbidding 800 leagues behind now
seems infinitely far above you, and has a
feeciness and sOftness viii h opens to the
imagination I'M reamed-of flights toward
heaven.
NATURES HAND Is FOREVER OPEN.
In these islands natures hand is forevaa
wide open Here the pineapple, citrOn,
melon, guava, custard apple, yam, bread
fruit, sweet potato, pomegranate, banana,
ORANGE lemon, cocoanut, and hundred
other vegetables and fruits, spring unasked
from a surprising and prodigal product
iveness The forests teem with the coca
nut tree, a hundred feet to its strange
pinnate leaves, the ceiba or silkcottOn tree,
the black mangrove, almond mahogany
ebony, Iignum vitp, lance, and the royal
palm while the swinging cactls, oieanders
as tall as our trees and fowerln, every
month in the year, the glowing coral vine,
the tuberose, the Chero.-ee rose, and roses Of
every hue and size, the alligator pear, the
night blooming cereus, and a myriad OF
shrubs, ferns, and flowers delight the eye
and gladden. with perennial color and odor,
and that forever without the bidding OF
wish or touch of LABOR.
The Insurance of land is also equaled by
th, prodigality of sea life and form, 50
varied, beautiful, and wonderful No shores
are so enchanting, no waters so wllsome,
and no depths o. ocean hold such mazes of
mystery and delight. The fish alone are re,
markable in variety. Among them are the
blackfish, the porpoise, which seems to
tumble about in all waters; the shark, that
deadly foe of the sailor; the dolphin, which
is in endless pursuit Of the delicate flying
fish which scuds through the air because it
is chased and not because il enjoys it, which
same dolphin is never cooked aboard a vessel
unless a silver half dollar is put in
the same pot, for if the half-dol-
lar blackens then the dolphin is full of
poison from having sucked copper from
ship bottoms the whipray, like the founder
and with a tail like a coachman's whip,
sometimes ten feet long; the Jewish, which
is to these waters as the halibut of our north
east coast; the yellow-tailed snapper
gigantic turtles, the catfish, the grorpa,
striped snapp r, bonito, Spanish mackerel
angel-fsh, pc k-fsh, hound-hsh, and sucking
fish. Then Lhere is that dread mystery ia
seamen, the Portuguese man of-war, thai
strange for...ation of marine life like mass
of Jelly with its ventTal fins extended in
every direction, riding the heaviett seas like
bird, and which sea- folk say Is deadly
noision to the uouch-Edgar Waks-aar ~
Chicago News